*ESPN’s 30 for 30 music plays* What if I told you that the Hawks were playing a game and had a big lead… then almost threw it away because of an awful third quarter. Wait, what’s that? You’ve heard this story before? Multiple times? Well then, you now know the script for how this one went down. Atlanta led 53-37 at halftime and even pulled away by as many as 21 early in the third quarter. However, the offense stopped working and the Nuggets were able to capitalize in transition and off of threes, pulling the game to just 77-71 by the end of the third. However, the Hawks were able to overcome Denver taking the lead for a few moments in the fourth to win the game, which was their third straight victory.

Reaction Grades:[assessed 0-10]

Paul Millsap: An absolutely dominant overall stat line from Paul Millsap, though he could have been more efficient from the field. Millsap was 6-for-17 shooting, but he got to the free throw line 16 times, making 11 of those attempts. The 16 free throw attempts are the most by a Hawk in over three years, surpassed by Joe Johnson’s 17 attempts in a game against the Clippers in January 2011. 9/10

Jeff Teague: I usually harp on how awful Jeff’s defense is, so I will say this: he did a very good job against Ty Lawson. Lawson was 0-for-12 from the field, and while some of that was Lawson looking lethargic, a large part of it was Teague making things difficult for him. Teague also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists, and he also had the game clinching rebound after he missed a free throw late in the game. (he really needs to work on the late-game free throws thing) 9/10

Pero Antic: 41 seconds left and Pero did it again. With the shot clock winding down, Pero took an off-balanced shot from the corner that was more of a prayer than a confident stroke. Didn’t matter, the shot went down and gave the Hawks a 93-92 lead at the time. Pero also got a hand on that rebound that Jeff Teague came down with after the aforementioned missed free throw. Strong night from Pero, who had 16 points. 8/10

DeMarre Carroll: Three Hawks players had double-doubles in this game: Millsap, Teague, and DeMarre Carroll, who had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Now, I’m generally not a fan of DeMarre taking 13 shots in a game, but part of that was a team failure as DeMarre was forced to put up a shot late in the shot clock on multiple occasions. 8.5/10

Kyle Korver: Kyle has made 14 of his last 16 three-point attempts, including a 4-for-4 effort against Denver. He’s currently up to a league-high 49% from three and is also the league-leader in true-shooting percentage. Simply put: Kyle is currently having one of the best shooting seasons of all time. 8.5/10Continue Reading…

Even though it is still in early November, this is a game that hurts. The Nuggets are a struggling team going under a coaching change of their own, and shouldn’t really be fighting for a playoff spot this season. In order to alleviate some of the growing pains that Atlanta is suffering with figuring out the new system and the rotations, these are the teams that they will be required to beat. It didn’t happen however, and poor perimeter defense is a huge part of it. Denver shot 14-for-25 from three, and Ty Lawson was devastating in the second half. This has seemed to be a recurring issue with the team, and hopefully they will figure things out on the outside on that end soon.

Reaction Grades:[assessed 0-10]

Al Horford: Al took advantage of the nice matchup he got with the Nuggets’ frontcourt. He finished with a line of 21 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks. Was it a little disheartening that it took him 21 shots to get to those 21 points? Sure, but he also only shot one free throw despite playing inside a decent amount. His last shot of the game also could have been kicked out to Korver, but he was still solid on both ends despite those two critiques. 8/10

Paul Millsap: Millsap also took advantage of Denver’s frontcourt and he did so in a big, big way. Paul’s statline is above, but he was also 10-for-15 from the field and a solid 2-for-3 from deep. Everything that Millsap seemingly shot for a long period of the game was finding net, and he seemed to always grab his rebounds through traffic. Interesting to note that he missed split his late free throw and missed a late shot after going down with some sort of knee pain. One has to wonder if that affected how he finished, but regardless, he was stellar all night. 10/10

DeMarre Carroll: DeMarre had another tough night from deep, but finally found the bottom of the net with a right corner three in the third quarter. Still, he took another four tonight after taking four against the Kings, and if he can’t make more than one out of eight he probably should cool it on the deep ball. His cuts, however, were solid, and he gave Denver’s defense problems with his off-ball movement. Defensively, Carroll wasn’t the issue. He also wasn’t really a solution either, and needs to take a step up on that side of the court. 4/10

Jeff Teague: Offensively, Jeff keeps putting in strong nights as a play-maker. He had another 11 assists tonight, and seems to like what Bud has been giving him as a passer. Scoring wise, Jeff had more downs than ups. He was avoiding contact with JaVale McGee tonight, and kept trying to float the ball over the top ineffectively. He also got completely torched defensively by Lawson, and really needs to play to higher level when the guy across from him is so good. He also can’t be slow up and down the court like he was tonight, Denver air or not. 2/10

Kyle Korver: Kyle was the best perimeter player on the Hawks at both ends. He was efficient scoring, going 6-10 and 2-4 from deep. He also was clearly the best defensive perimeter player, as he didn’t look as lost off the ball as others did tonight. Adding in two steals and two blocks helps too. 7/10Continue Reading…

The Hawks played one of their most exciting games of the season, outracing the Nuggets and disproving Lawler’s Law by going to the by now patented Josh Smith-Al Horford high-low late in the game. Meanwhile, Corey Brewer scored every other time I looked at the TV.

Reaction Grades:[assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: Smoove had a very activenight and, for the for the most part, chose his shots wisely. He scored some huge baskets down the stretch, one as a recipient from Al Horford in a beautifully executed high low, and the other on a break away, and-1 dagger dunk that put the Hawks up 5 with under 30 seconds to go. 7/10

Al Horford: Horford was an absolute beast on the boards and, as always, took advantage of transition opportunities by setting up shop on the block and sealing his man while the guards advanced the ball. He had one of the most important assists of the game when he found Josh Smith for a dunk late in the 4th quarter, and aside from his always stellar passing, he found a way to strip the ball from Denver’s bigs more than a few times. 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: It was one of those classic Zaza games where he just energizes the team, grabs a bunch of gritty rebounds, and somehow scores 11 points, all 11 of which coming in some awesome way. 7/10

DeShawn Stevenson: DeShawn hit 3 of 5 three pointers, so that right there is more offensive contribution than you’d expect, but his defense wasn’t as good as it has been in past games. 4/10

Jeff Teague: Since his hot start to the season, Teague has struggled more and more shooting the ball, and it showed tonight as he went 4-16 from the field. He let Ty Lawson abuse his defense throughout the first 3 quarters and didn’t really get anything going until the 4th. While he wasn’t great in the final period, he ran the offense well and hit a big 3-pointer late, while also doing a better job on Lawson. 5/10Continue Reading…